The present invention relates to a method and system for more dynamically performing an initialization process of a location server which is additionally added to a replication group.
A game server providing a game service generally includes a location server which can integrally manage login/logout information of users. Specifically, when a user accesses a game server via a personal computer (PC) or the Internet, the game server transmits the user's login/logout information to the location server. In this case, the location server manages users' login/logout information which are received from a plurality of game servers. Accordingly, even in the case of the user who has accessed another game server, the location server may provide information about a game server which a particular user has accessed.
However, in the case of an online game which simultaneously provides a game service to a large number of users, hundreds of game servers provide the game service. Accordingly, when a single location server manages the login/logout information, system load of the location server is extremely increased. Thus, a method of constructing a plurality of location servers as a replication group is suggested to alleviate the system load of the location server. In this instance, the plurality of location servers of the replication group need to have identical information about each user's login/logout status. Even when an additional location server is added to the replication group, the additional location server needs to have the identical information as that of other location servers. Accordingly, when the additional location server joins in the replication group, an initialization process of dumping (duplicating) messages, which are maintained in an existing location server of the replication group, to the additional location server is performed.
However, some messages received from a game server may not be stored in the location server while the location server is initialized if the message is received after the dumping process has started Namely, the received message may be omitted or lost.
Accordingly, a sophisticated initialization model with respect to a location server of a replication group where a message received from a game server is neither omitted nor lost, regardless of a dumping process, is required.